A socially responsive university

The lens of decolonisation invites the opportunity to reflect on the current mainstream views regarding the purpose of the public university. A decolonized approach suggests that the key tasks of a university (teaching, research and community engagement) should be socially responsive. This conceptu...

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Main Author: Mariekie Burger
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Johannesburg 2022-10-01
Series:Communicare
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1551
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author Mariekie Burger
author_facet Mariekie Burger
author_sort Mariekie Burger
collection DOAJ
description The lens of decolonisation invites the opportunity to reflect on the current mainstream views regarding the purpose of the public university. A decolonized approach suggests that the key tasks of a university (teaching, research and community engagement) should be socially responsive. This conceptual article draws on a class project to suggest a way in which the three tasks can be combined to respond so a particular social need. Against the foil of a class project - situated in a larger Izindaba Zokudla (conversations about food) community engagement project of the University of Johannesburg – this article argues: 1) instead of conventional teaching methods, teaching should be based on an empowerment education model; 2) instead of a top-down externally initiated model, community engagement should use a participatory multistakeholder approach; and 3) instead of conventional research approaches, research should be transformative. The article concludes, firstly that it is possible to integrate the teaching, research and community engagement tasks of a public university productively, and secondly, it should take as point of departure empowerment education, participatory community engagement, and transformative research.
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spelling doaj-art-cb865de3b97e4e709441c3fb9f0365322025-01-20T08:56:25ZengUniversity of JohannesburgCommunicare0259-00692957-79502022-10-0137210.36615/jcsa.v37i2.1551A socially responsive universityMariekie Burger0University of Johannesburg The lens of decolonisation invites the opportunity to reflect on the current mainstream views regarding the purpose of the public university. A decolonized approach suggests that the key tasks of a university (teaching, research and community engagement) should be socially responsive. This conceptual article draws on a class project to suggest a way in which the three tasks can be combined to respond so a particular social need. Against the foil of a class project - situated in a larger Izindaba Zokudla (conversations about food) community engagement project of the University of Johannesburg – this article argues: 1) instead of conventional teaching methods, teaching should be based on an empowerment education model; 2) instead of a top-down externally initiated model, community engagement should use a participatory multistakeholder approach; and 3) instead of conventional research approaches, research should be transformative. The article concludes, firstly that it is possible to integrate the teaching, research and community engagement tasks of a public university productively, and secondly, it should take as point of departure empowerment education, participatory community engagement, and transformative research. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1551decolonisationteaching, research and community engagementuniversitysocially responsive
spellingShingle Mariekie Burger
A socially responsive university
Communicare
decolonisation
teaching, research and community engagement
university
socially responsive
title A socially responsive university
title_full A socially responsive university
title_fullStr A socially responsive university
title_full_unstemmed A socially responsive university
title_short A socially responsive university
title_sort socially responsive university
topic decolonisation
teaching, research and community engagement
university
socially responsive
url https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1551
work_keys_str_mv AT mariekieburger asociallyresponsiveuniversity
AT mariekieburger sociallyresponsiveuniversity